Earlier this month a delegation of Rotary International leaders met with the Prime Minister of Pakistan and senior officials, including the Minister of Health, to discuss the elimination of polio in Pakistan. As you may be aware Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion dollars and countless hours to ending polio.
In the meetings the Prime Minister acknowledged recent challenges in the effort to rid Pakistan of polio and confirmed that Pakistan considers polio elimination amongst its highest priorities. At the end of meetings, the key Pakistani leaders indicated their unwavering support and cooperation for Rotary’s efforts.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries to continue to report cases of wild poliovirus. However, the remaining challenges to global eradication – such as difficulty reaching children amid insecurity and conflict and weak health systems continue to be a problem in these two countries.
This week we held a new member orientation, attended by Nicci, John, David Q and Jean. The purpose of the session was to answer any questions our new members had about the Club, the District, the Foundation etc.
The event was organised by Bev and we were graciously hosted by Howard and Jenny. It was an excellent session and hopefully we demystified some of the many aspects of Rotary. A big thanks to Howard, Bev and Rick for leading the discussion. We are already planning our next session and would encourage anyone who is interested in attending to let us know.
Finally, we are still looking for players to make up our Jumbo Tennis team and if you would like to be part of this fun event, please contact our athletic captain, David Quinn.
David has been Chief Censor for the last 2-3 years. He has a legal and technical background and has children at college and primary school – which with his current role, provides some fairly interesting discussions around the dinner table.
For David, it’s all about balance - between freedom and protection. We all want access to whatever content we believe that we’re entitled to, but we also need to accept that parts of our society need protection from that content. When we look at the teen suicide, sex abuse, and self-harm rates, we can see why we still need an overarching regulator to protect the vulnerable.
One of his team’s biggest challenges is keeping up with the pace of change. He compared the 2.5 million years it took for man to add a stick to a sharpened stone to create a useful tool, to the internet - which only came into life 10,000 days ago and has influenced our access to information exponentially and it continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Consider the effort to reign in the massive amount of content with regulations dating to 1999 and a few extra regulations in 2005.
His mandate covers all publications – film, DVD (what is that?), games, book, magazines, T-shirts, Facebook pages, digital files – almost anything that you can define as content.
The Censors office has a two-pronged approach – Pro-active, where they receive referrals from distribution outlets (where possible), and Reactive – where they receive complaints from the public or NZ Police.
One of the more obvious calls for action recently was when they received complaints for the Netflix series ’13 Reasons Why’ where teen suicide was a strong theme of the series. The office learned that in the US, 95% of teens had watched at least some of the series and there was a 20% increase in teen suicides or attempted suicides following the screening of the series. This reflects how the youth of today are heavily by media and when you throw in social media it is fuelling an epidemic of youth anxiety.
Netflix and other TV/movie content providers are not the only distribution channel causing problems. Some game developers now include rape scenarios and gambling, encouraging their players to take part. Pornography, which has always been an issue, is now a massive content provider with sites like Pornhub receiving billions of site visits every year and more content uploaded in a month than a single person could watch continuously in 10 years.
Once again it is our youth who have access to this content that is potentially at harm, especially with many children under the age of 12 having mobile phones and access to almost anything at their fingertips – David quoted 1 in every 4 children having seen explicit content by the age of 12. Even the songs on sites like Spotify and Apple Music are full of unedited explicit lyrics and currently sit on our top song playlists.
Terrorism was another area where David and his team get involved. The March 15 event in Christchurch was enacted with full use of Facebook and the intention to distribute the perpetrators ideals using the internet. It was very well planned and has spawned copycat terrorism acts across the globe. Some people who saw the March 15 footage didn’t realise that it was an ‘real-live’ attack taking place and thought it was a game. Content such as this requires the Censors office to enlist the assistance of international governments to identify and shut down known sites.
There is a technology race in train, e.g. gun specs can be downloaded and printed on 3-D printers at home – no regulation, no registration – and they work. Other technology is pushing the boundaries well beyond what was considered modern requirements 15-20 years ago – the Censors office has its work cut out to protect the vulnerable in our midst.
Education is one of the strongest weapons against harmful content – we all need to educate ourselves and others, especially youth, as to what is harmful and what is not, why, and what we can do it about it.
Brent Gerrard
Club Reporter
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Child Cancer Appeal
Saturday 29 February
The Club collected for the Child Cancer Appeal on Saturday February 29 at Chaffers New World from 9am to 5pm. Thanks to all who assisted.
Howard, Bill, Tony, and President David
Dinner with Ben Baker
Save the date of Monday 2 March 6.30pm Wellington Club for a special performance Dinner Date with Ben!
Back in New Zealand on a flying visit to play the Sibelius Violin Concert as soloist with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra on 29 February, Benjamin Baker is squeezing in a dinner performance for his supporters from the Wellington Club and the Rotary Club of Port Nicholson and invited guests. He will be joined by Justine McCormack, other special guests and pianist Julie Coulson. There will be solo violin works by Bach, Kreisler, Paganini and a beautiful violin duo by Shostakovich with Justine, followed by a fun item or two!
The evening will begin at 6.30m with a drink, followed by a delicious 3 course meal, interspersed with brackets of music and hearing Ben talk about his already illustrious international career and exciting plans for a new programme in the Southern Lakes, Chamber Music at the World’s Edge.
He will mingle at the end so that people can engage more with this outstanding and delightful locally born musician. More information can be found here.
Tickets $90
Book now! Contact Nicholas Duncan E:duncan.nicholas@gmail.com
Please include names of all guests and any dietary requirements
Bank into Rotary Club of Port Nicholson Account No: 03 0502 0132476 00
Queries to Dawn Sanders M: 027 283 6016, NZ Agent for Ben Baker
The annual Rotary District 9940 conference is approaching to be held 15-17 May 2020.
Over this time we would like to offer “Home Hosting” to those delegates wanting accommodation during the conference.
We are reaching out to you and your club to see who is interested in being a home host. Those who are interested should contact
me directly so I can match them up with those needing accommodation.
A home host would be expected to offer the following:
Accommodation at no cost on Friday and Saturday
Breakfast on Saturday and Sunday
Means of transport to and from the conference venue if required (this could be via public transport if necessary)
Contact with the hostee prior to conference with details such as home location.
Being a “Home Host” is a rewarding experience and we would encourage you and your members to get involved where possible.
I am available to answer any questions you might have, look forward to hearing from you.
The hard working Conference Committee who meet fortnightly.
There has been an amazing response this year as there has been over
50 applications. Interviews have taken place and awardees selected. Contact
Richard Brodie
027 439 2424
or
richard.brodie@xtra.co.nz
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Zealandia
Working Bee
Saturday 14 March
9.00am - Midday
The work will be at the Discovery area to remove all the old path edging.
It has rotted away over the years and is now a real trip hazard for anyone walking there.
An email will be sent to members - also contact Paula on 021 398 198
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Betty Jo Smith at the Underground Market
29 Feb 2020
Betty's a singer songwriter and plays guitar and piano.
Betty busks regularly at Harbourside Market, entered the Smokefree Rockquest Competition in both 2018 and 2019 and regularly performs with the Rock Academy - through their music and holiday programme.
A highlight for her last year
was to win the first prize of
the Franken Arts Bursary Scholarship and receive vocal coaching from Frances Dickenson at http://www.establishmusic.
artist goal is to become a professional singer songwriter and go to university and study music - composition and songwriting.
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Something to diary for 2020...…...
Our Charity Auction Dinner and Quiz will be held on Friday
1 May 2020
For our Charity Auction Dinner and Quiz we'd love contributions for our......
MYSTERY BALLOON IDEAS
Cashed in gifts HOT POINTS/FLY BUYS
RE-GIFTING – those gifts you know you’ll never use!
VOUCHERS….Coffee…Chocolate....Theatre...
Beauty...Other
GOURMET FOOD....
Treats
MOVIE.... Tickets/Vouchers
MENS and WOMENS Gift Vouchers
HAIRDRESSING.... accessories/vouchers
COSMETICS…BATHROOM ….ideas
Bring to Rotary over thenextfew weeks or contact
Paula 021 398 145 ...........................
Funnies!!
A man is reading his newspaper and says to his wife: "Look, here is an article about how women use about twice as many words per day as men do."
His wife responds "That's because we have to tell you everything twice".
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Two men walk in the jungle. One has a gun on his back and the other one a rock. The one with the rock asks the other man, "Why do you have a gun on your back?"
The guy replies, "When a wild animal comes, Ican defend myself. And what about you, why the rock?"
The guy with the rock smiles proudly, "When a wild animal comes, I can throw the rock away and run much faster!"
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Annual Round the Vines run/walk
will take place on Saturday 21 March 2020. I have booked Keith's place in Martinborough for the weekend, so we will finish with a BBQ there after the event. Thanks Keith for allowing us to recuperate at your place. Either keep or start training over the festive break to ensure you are in peak physical condition for this event. It is a lot of fun with both competitive and very social runners and walkers welcome. The drink stands around the course are all themed and serve a range of beverages that include "water". More details in the New Year.
Peter Whittington
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Bill and Paula had a very successful morning checking the traps on a beautiful Summer's day in Wellington - caught one mouse!!
Duties for 04 March
Desk: Paula McKnight
Greeter: Jane Paterson
Opening Thought: Joy Durant
Happy Dollars: Mike Selvadurai
Introduction: Brenda Lazelle
Thanking: Paula McKnight
Parting Thought:Noel Winsloe
Club Reporter: Anne Hare
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Rotoract Project
Saturday 14 March 2020
Thanks so much to everyone on Wednesday, I've already got two things ticked off my list so that was a huge relief for me (shout out to Peter and Howard!) The other items still needed are:
• Large thermoses (around 2-5L)
• Buckets that are large enough for washing plates (we already have three, so we just need one or two more)
• Dish washing gloves
• Tea towels
And preferably with names on them, but we will endeavor to make sure everything is named too.
We will also need some volunteers between 10am and 4pm, especially around lunch time, so if you might be free then get in touch with me and I can pass your name onto our scheduler.
Lastly, this is not something we need yet, but we are borrowing our plates and cutlery from the lovely Wash Against Waste and for us to get our deposit back on the plates we need to bring back everything. Unfortunately there's a good chance some will break or be lost, so if you have any spare ones that you are thinking of donating, also let me know and I'll get in contact if we end up needing any.
We’ve caught our first rat! Dave and I found a very dead rat in Trap 103 during servicing on Monday..... As we have now completed our first trapping quarter we intend to do a review of the programme and all Club members input is welcome. A date will be advertised once our WCC partners confirm their availability. We also hope to hold another WCC Trapper Induction to enable new trappers to join our Servicing Team.
Week Ending (Sunday)
Volunteer 1
Volunteer 2
Feb 9
Brenda Lazelle
Dave Lazelle
Feb 16
Noel Winsloe
Steve Lawton
Feb 23
Bev Wells
Bill Day
Mar 1
Paula McKnight
Jeff Lee
Mar 8
Jenny Flannigan-Tong
Howard Tong
Mar 15
Noel Winsloe
Peter Whittington
Mar 22
David Shackleton
Richard Brodie
Mar 29
Brent Gerrard
Dennis Small
April 5
Marc Rands
Jeff Lee
April 12
Jenny Flannigan Tong
Howard Tong
April 19
Richard Brodie
Bill Day
April 26
Brenda Lazelle
Dave Lazelle
May 3
Marc Rands
Dennis Small
Please note: I have used Sunday as the service day for the week, but feel free to negotiate an alternative day to suit with your Service Volunteer Partner. If your allocated day doesn't suit please swap. Text Fraser Ebbett (WCC) 021 765 694 when you arrive and leave the site.
Brenda Lazelle
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Darryl Ross - A profile by Jean Sloane
OMG! Ever try to cajole a kid into doing something he doesn’t want to do? Well, Darryl is the biggest kid and this little bio was his worst nightmare! It would serve him right if I used the first picture he sent me - a lovely, close-up, profile shot of the side of his head. He grumpily submitted the picture above but only after being convinced that no one wants a picture of his ear!
“I’m a bit reluctant to do this”, he says. “Really?” I say. As a child, growing up as the last of 11 kids on the west coast of the South Island, Darryl remembers spending a lot of time outdoors. It was “real country”, he said. A boy’s paradise you might say; eeling and spending time with his pets: possum Percy and a pig.
I learned that Darryl was awarded the Queen’s Medal. He is a Paul Harris Fellow and he received the Order of Saint John. When I asked Darryl about them, he said, “yeah, I have a “couple” medals in a drawer somewhere. The last time I had that Queen’s Medal on was in 1993 when I met Prince Charles.”
So, I said, “Oh, you met Prince Charles?” And, yes, he did. He got to meet Prince Charles because the Free Ambulance (not Darryl mind you - just so you don’t think he might have had anything to do with it) raised $5.4 million to open the new Free Ambulance station. The heir to the throne just happened to be in town that day for the official opening. Darryl did tell me that Port Nicholson gave a lot to that project.
Darryl can’t spend too much time talking on the phone. He has an Air B&B in Evans Bay that he owns and operates. He isn’t averse to the idea of scrubbing toilets, mopping floors and getting the laundry hung and folded by 2:00 p.m. It’s not difficult to hear just how proud he is of turning this “big liability into an asset.” He adds, “It’s something I can do, and it keeps me busy.”
Truth be told, Darryl’s professional life was always about creating a success of one project or another, whether it be as a business manager or serial entrepreneur. Now that he’s “retired”, a dubious statement at best, he says he has more time for the important things like Rotary where his talents are put to good use on projects like sending an Ambulance to Samoa or a truck to Fiji. The one thing that Darryl did tell me happily and that was, “I was in fact one of the founding members of the Port Nicholson Club.” And, he has been a contributing member ever since.
The most important note: This past year, Darryl’s three sons all became fathers for the first time: a boy, twin boys and a girl. “That has the potential to change me,” he says. Maybe he’ll pretend less to be a cantankerous, cranky pants when truth be told he’s a nice guy that just likes to use his time and talents to serve. How very Rotarian of him!
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